Happy Thanksgiving: Russell Index Data Highlights Four Straight Years of Positive Returns for the Two Weeks Surrounding Thanksgiving in the Consumer Discretionary Sector and Retail Sub-Sector of the Russell 1000® Index and Russell 2000® Index

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - Nov 20, 2012) - As shoppers prepare to take advantage of the annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales following Thanksgiving, Russell Indexes has analyzed the returns of the Consumer Discretionary and Technology sectors, as well as the Retail sub-sector, of the U.S. large cap Russell 1000® Index and U.S. small cap Russell 2000® Index for the week of and week following Thanksgiving for the past 10 years, 2002-2011.

Since 2008, these sectors and sub-sector all posted positive returns during the aforementioned two-week time period, with 2008 boasting the highest return. During that year, the Consumer Discretionary (+18.9%) and Technology (+6.6%) sectors and the Retail sub-sector (+19.5%) of the Russell 1000® Index posted their highest returns for the two week time period for the last ten years and the corresponding Russell 2000® Index sectors also posted ten-year highs, with returns in the Consumer Discretionary sector and Retail sub-sector exceeding +25%.

In addition, the Consumer Discretionary sector of the Russell 1000® Index has only posted negative returns twice for the two weeks surrounding Thanksgiving within the last ten years, (-2.0%) in 2002 and (-1.5%) in 2006, while the Retail sub-sector posted negative returns from 2002-2006. In the Russell 2000® Index, these three sectors had negative returns three times for the two weeks surrounding Thanksgiving in the five years prior to 2008, with the Retail sub-sector of the U.S. small cap index reflecting the largest loss in 2002 (-4.4%).

Russell 1000 Consumer Discretionary sector

Russell 1000 Retail sub-sector

Russell 1000 Technology sector

11/25/02 - 12/6/02

-2.0%

-0.1%

-4.5%

11/24/03 - 12/5/03

1.0%

-2.0%

2.3%

11/22/04 - 12/3/04

2.0%

-1.3%

3.2%

11/21/05 - 12/2/05

0.9%

-0.4%

2.5%

11/20/06 - 12/1/06

-1.5%

-2.1%

-1.2%

11/19/07 - 11/30/07

2.4%

3.4%

-0.4%

11/24/08 - 12/5/08

18.9%

19.5%

6.6%

11/23/09 - 12/4/09

1.4%

1.0%

2.1%

11/22/10 - 12/3/10

3.1%

4.2%

2.6%

11/21/11 - 12/2/11

2.9%

2.3%

1.7%

Russell 2000 Consumer Discretionary Sector

Russell 2000 Retail Sector

Russell 2000 Technology Sector

11/25/02 - 12/6/02

-0.2%

0.1%

-4.4%

11/24/03 - 12/5/03

0.7%

-2.2%

0.8%

11/22/04 - 12/3/04

4.2%

2.4%

5.2%

11/21/05 - 12/2/05

2.7%

3.5%

4.5%

11/20/06 - 12/1/06

-1.3%

-0.9%

-2.2%

11/19/07 - 11/30/07

-2.0%

-3.5%

-1.3%

11/24/08 - 12/5/08

25.4%

28.8%

10.4%

11/23/09 - 12/4/09

2.4%

1.8%

3.5%

11/22/10 - 12/3/10

5.6%

5.7%

5.9%

11/21/11 - 12/2/11

2.6%

2.0%

0.7%

Source: Russell Investments

The Russell Global Index includes more than 10,000 securities in 48 countries and covers 98% of the investable global market. All securities in the index are classified according to size, region, country and sector. Daily Returns for the main components are available here: http://www.russell.com/indexes/data/daily_total_returns_global.asp